Families

Therapeutic Support for Adoptive Parents, Special Guardians and Families

It can be hard to know how to respond when your adoptive child is finding change difficult. Our highly trained and clinically-supervised professionals help adoptive and kinship families build and strengthen relationships, including those affected by past trauma.

Post Adoption Services and Resources At a Glance

Bespoke Support

Our packages of support are tailored to your family's specific needs. Our therapists will build a relationship with you, and help you nurture relationships with your child, so there is no one-size-fits-all approach.

Depending on your needs, services can include:

• Assessment
• Just Right State - programme for adoptive parents, Special Guardians and families
• Parenting with Theraplay® - small group programme in Sutton Coldfield for adoptive parents, Special Guardians and carers
• Theraplay®, Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) and Sensory Attachment Intervention (SAI)
• Weekly sessions

For Practitioners

Request support to refer a family on their behalf.

Individual Family Therapy

In person • Funded

We offer relational and play therapies for families who have no other means of access. With our individual family therapy, you can access expert therapeutic support to make sense of your child's needs and strengthen relationships. UK-based, available in the West Midlands. All of the support delivered by Beacon Family Services is inclusive and suitable for all families, including those with diagnosed and / or undiagnosed neurodiversity.

Connect 4 Kids: Group Theraplay®

In person • Funded

Some children need extra support with social and emotional development. Playing with parents and peers in these sessions can build children's confidence and resilience.

Connect 4 Parents

In person • Funded

Feeling alone as you face your parenting struggles? Meet online with other parents in the UK to share challenges in Connect for Parents workshops facilitated by our therapists. Our therapists have lived experience. They can ease your sense of isolation and support you with new parenting ideas to build positivity and resilience.

Connect 4 Young Teens (ages 11-13 approx)

In person • Funded

Is your child on the cusp of becoming a full-blown teenager and finding it tricky to manage changes in schooling and friendship groups? Are they finding it hard to take on board new social and educational expectations while working on their growing sense of self? That’s where Connect 4 Young Teens comes in!

This weekly in-person group programme for young people aged 11-13 in Sutton Coldfield is fun, safe, supportive, and led by qualified therapists who specialise in helping young people with their emotional development in a non-judgemental way.

Join our parent support groups below for a therapist-moderated network of likeminded peers facing similar parenting challenges. These connections can help you reduce feelings of isolation as a parent or caregiver, building confidence and improving resilience.

Facebook Peer Support Group:
Adoptive Parents Living with Challenging Behaviour
Online • Every Monday • 12 noon to 1pm

Parenting a child with experience of early adversity that has travelled through the care system can be difficult. Many families experience challenging, violent and aggressive behaviour from their children and this experience leaves many adoptive parents isolated and struggling.

This is a weekly online support group on Facebook for adoptive parents. Join a peer community where you can share lived experience, challenges, strategies and mutual support. Hosted by Al Coates MBE, the group looks at topics that matter to adoptive families in a frank and forthright manner as well as identifying strategies to help. Al draws on his experience and training as a social worker and NVR practitioner to lead through the sessions.

You can email Al Coates to find out more: a.coates@beaconservices.org.uk

This group has been funded by Adoption England.

Online Support Group:
Adoptive Dads Living with Challenging and Aggressive Behaviour
Online • Free • Weekly Sessions

If you’re a dad through adoption and are living with challenging behaviour you are welcome to join our supportive and non-judgmental support group. Run by Al Coates & Pete Brindley, it offers a monthly online support session. The group is open to all struggling dads in the UK, with future in-person meetups being considered depending on regional locations.

ABOUT THE GROUP: Parenting can be hard. Dads raising children with additional needs which are being expressed through Childhood Challenging and Aggressive Behavour (CCVAB) can often feel isolated and struggling with challenges unique to their experience as a dad. This online peer group is a safe place to talk about those challenges, get some support, ideas and hear from other dads.

Project Salam
Online • Funded

Project Salam is a family relationship support programme for refugee families in Birmingham resettling from Afghanistan, Ukraine and Syria.

We offer family support and translated resources for Arabic, Dari, Pashto and Ukrainian speaking families.

Being a parent

• On being a 'good enough' parent
• Trying to manage your child's connection and comfort 24/7?
• Not a calm parent? Not everyone can be.

Supporting your child in education and school

• Back to school transition tips (shared from Adoption UK with permission)
• Managing after school overwhelm
• How to use Pupil Premium school support for care-experienced children

Parenting tips and help with strengthening relationships

• Managing sibling relationships
• How to get your kid to sleep
• Why feeling safe is important
• The benefits of outdoor play and den building
• Using the lumin&us® app when your child is struggling

Polyvagal theory and your child's needs and behaviours

• How to tell if your child is safe, struggling or drowning
• Understanding your child's behaviours
• Why do we misread faces? A guide to neuroception
• Why do children spin around and turn upside down?

Mental health and neurodivergence

• What to do while waiting for CAMHS as a parent
• Low demand parenting with neurodivergent children
• Emotional navigation and regulation